Staying in the Wild, Wild West

Finishing our tour of the hotels of Disneyland Paris, let's stroll down the Rio Grande (the name given the canal which runs from Lake Disney) toward the French equivalent of the moderate resorts, Hotel Cheyenne and Hotel Santa Fe.

The second property designed by architect Robert Stern, Hotel Cheyenne offers Guests the opportunity to stay in a western frontier town, albeit one more inspired by films like High Noon than based in reality.

A stagecoach has pulled up out front to deliver folks and freight, and look who stopped by, in full Native American garb no less. Apart from being a fantastic outfit for Mickey and a great location for photos, this spot also provided me one of the most unforgettable moments of my trip to Disneyland Paris.

Guests visit the French park from all over Europe, and you can hear many different languages spoken here. It becomes abundantly clear that, while I may have grown up with Mickey and the gang in the States, he doesn't belong to us. He belongs to the world, and the magic of Disney transcends language and culture. As my wife and I stood, watching Mickey greet these children, an Italian family was dropped off nearby. Obviously at the start of their vacation, they rushed over, excited to see the Big Cheese. No one in that family was more thrilled than the father, who shouted an enthusiastic, "Topolino! Ciao!" (Topolino is the Italian name for Mickey Mouse) It was at once funny and endearing, and I will remember the wonder and delight in that grown man's voice for as long as I live.

Inside the public space of the Hotel Cheyenne are references both direct and indirect to the Westerns of the past, both Hollywood and "Spaghetti" (Spaghetti Westerns, also known as "western all'italiana," were popular in the mid-60s and shot in Italy by directors like Sergio Leone).

The lobby includes sculptures by Remington, and the primary dining facility is the Chuck Wagon Cafe, where grub is served up from the wagons and the cookhouse (although all indoors).

Among my favorite details is this mailbox, designed as a Pony Express satchel. Even better, step outside, and you'll find actual ponies! As they say, this "ain't no one horse town."

The lodging buildings of the hotel are arranged along a grid of western-style, packed dirt streets, with facades broken up to appear like a string of buildings one might find in an old west town (or at least on an old west movie set). Even the names of the buildings and streets help support the story. That's the Doc Holliday building in the second photo below, along East Desperado Street.

Out at the edge of town near the river is the hotel's play area for children, Fort Apache, where kids can let their imagination run wild playing in the fort or the nearby Indian encampment.

Cross the Rio Grande, and you'll find yourself in a western environment of a completely different kind. Hotel Santa Fe, as designed by New Mexico's own Antoine Predock, is an homage to the desert areas of the west, as well as the famous Route 66.

The front entrance of the hotel is designed as a drive-in movie theater, with the spaces in the parking lot arranged to position the cars facing the screen. When the resort opened in 1992, the image on screen was that of Clint Eastwood, but that was changed to a scene from Cars after that film debuted in 2006.

The interiors of Hotel Santa Fe lean heavily on both Route 66 and Native American designs, contrasting the natural hues of the architecture with bright, vibrant colors. The collection of Native American folk art figures behind the front desk of the hotel is particularly impressive.

Just outside the public buildings of the resort is a long mural of Route 66, running from Chicago (Walt Disney's birthplace) to Los Angeles. Along the way are nods to Walt, including Marceline, Missouri (where he spent his childhood), and Disneyland in California.

The lodging structures at Hotel Santa Fe take their cue from the adobe dwellings of Arizona and Utah, with landscaping heavy on cactus and stone.

Connecting the buildings and other facilities of the resort is a series of themed trails. Although quite a bit more esoteric than the movie-inspired sections of Hotel Cheyenne, the trails offer their own unique elements.

The Trail of Monuments is intended as an abstract representation of Monument Valley in Utah (the inspiration for the rockwork at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad). Upon opening, buildings along the Trail of Legends were painted in colors symbolic of key elements of a western town (silver for the bank, gray for the prison, red for the house of ill repute, etc.), but these colors have since been replaced with warmer tones.

The Trail of Water includes aquatic elements like a viaduct, pond and fountain. Along the Trail of Artifacts, you can find rusty old cars, a statue of a rattlesnake and a neon roadrunner. Finally, the Trail of Infinite Space is seen as a long highway with a line of telephone poles that seem to go forever. This trail features, among other things, a crash-landed UFO - a bit of Area 51, right here at Disneyland Resort Paris.

From the Forest to the Shore

Continuing our stroll around Lake Disney at Disneyland Resort Paris, we come upon the remaining two deluxe properties, Sequoia Lodge and Newport Bay Club. The Sequoia Lodge, as designed by French architect Antoine Grumbach, recalls America's national parks as well as the familiar architectural styles of Green & Green and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Similar in some ways to the Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World, Sequoia Lodge is distinct in that the main building does not include a cavernous lobby area. It's spaces are much more intimate, with several of the rooms grouped into separate lodge buildings, giving the overall resort a more manageable scale.

Sequoia Lodge was undergoing a significant refurbishment during my visit, but portions of the interior were open for Guests. The spaces are dominated by natural elements of wood, stone and copper, with seating areas grouped around crackling fireplaces and towering trees shading the windows from the sun.

The hotels at Disneyland Resort Paris offer many of the same perks as those at other Disney properties (such as early park admission), but there are other benefits to staying on property in France. All resort Guests receive complimentary breakfast in a hotel restaurant every day of your stay (go early!), and Disney characters stop by the resorts in the morning, wearing special attire unique to the theme of each property. Here's Goofy as a park ranger, inside the lobby of the Sequoia Lodge!

Down at the other end of the lake is Newport Bay Club, architect Robert Stern's contribution to the Parisian resort. If it looks similar to Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts in Florida, that's no surprise. Stern designed those, too!

Here, the Newport Bay Club is an immense property, with over 1000 rooms. To help break up that mass and provide a more comfortable scale for Guests, the hotel was designed with long wings, oversize porches and pillars, gently sloping roof lines and an appropriately-placed lighthouse.

Newport Bay Club is reminiscent of New England hotels of the late 1800s and is filled with nautical details and references, set against a background of crisp whites, blues and hardwoods. It's truly beautiful inside.

Newport Bay Club is the resort where we stayed during our May 2011 visit, and it was fantastic. The hotel is a healthy walking distance from the theme parks, close enough to feel part of the action but far enough away to be in a world of its own.

Since Disney's Yacht Club Resort is one of my favorite properties at Walt Disney World, staying at Newport Bay Club felt a bit like coming home at the end of each day. There were definitely those little reminders, though, that we weren't in Orlando. Take that letter "C" on the left side of the sink faucet in the bathroom. At first you might think they've just swapped the hot and cold sides... until you realize the French word for hot is "chaud" (by the way, the letter on the other knob is "F" for "froid" - French for cold).

Then, of course, you look out the window and find a view you can't get anywhere else. That's Hotel New York across the lake and Panoramagique in the air. We could also peek to the left and see Disney Village and a bit of the Disneyland Paris park itself.

An interesting note: Robert Stern's Yacht and Beach Club Resorts also happen to offer views across a lake of structures designed by Michael Graves, who did Hotel New York. In Florida, it's his Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels.

The Village of Old Port Royale

At the heart of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort is Old Port Royale, a destination for dining, shopping and recreation. On the stone gates at the entrance to Old Port Royale, as well as atop the fountain in the middle of Centertown, you'll find representations of pineapples. For hundreds of years, pineapples have been considered a symbol of welcome and hospitality in this part of the world.

Centertown at Old Port Royale is filled with the sort of brightly colored architecture typical of the British and Spanish colonial eras in the Caribbean. Inside the main building, you're given the impression of still being outside, wandering the streets and alleys of the town.

The Calypso Trading Post bursts forth beyond its doors, creating a vibrant marketplace feeling in the square.

Around the corner from the marketplace is a street brimming with restaurants and food stands, their smells pouring out to greet passersby. Shutters is a table service location, specializing in Caribbean cuisine with entrees like plantain-crusted red snapper and pineapple-marinated chicken. Other spots along the row offer more traditional, food court-style menus, but in a Caribbean-inspired setting. Montego's Deli takes its name from Montego Bay in Jamaica, while Bridgetown Broiler is named for the capital of Barbados, one of the oldest cities in the islands.

Throughout, details continue the story of being outdoors. There's the sky blue ceiling, with festive lanterns strung from building to building. The facades of the food court and restaurant are adorned with faux windows, shutters and doors, and balconies on the second level have been dressed with props to give the impression of people living above the storefronts.

Continuing our exploration of Old Port Royale, if you head down closer to the water, you'll find the remains of an old Spanish fortress. The fortress, modeled on the Castillo del Morro in Cuba, was added as part of a resort enhancement in 2009. It surrounds the new feature pool at Caribbean Beach and encloses the pool's two water slides.

Much like the resort's village of Trinidad South, the Castillo has been overtaken by pirates. The Jolly Roger flies over the fortress walls, and a pirate galleon is moored (more like crashed) nearby. Details like the skull and crossbones, wayward anchor and giant barrel of rum (which fills and dumps its contents every few minutes) make this water play feature a hit with younger children.

Look closely, high above the crow's nest, and you'll even spot a cartoony crow... wearing his own tri-cornered pirate hat. He's keeping watch over all the activity, pirate or otherwise, here in Old Port Royale.

Pirates of the Caribbean Beach Resort

The initial phase of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, the first moderately priced resort at Walt Disney World, opened in the fall of 1988. Other resorts in varying categories have been added over the years, but the Caribbean Beach Resort, from its Custom House check-in area to the shores of Barefoot Bay, has remained a charming favorite for many.

The lodge buildings at Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort are arranged in villages surrounding the bay, each named for an island in the Caribbean: Martinique, Barbados, Aruba, Jamaica and Trinidad. A stroll among the villages offers beautiful tropical vistas, punctuated by brightly-colored, colonial-inspired architecture.

Things aren't all "civilized," however. Step across the bridge to explore Caribbean Cay, an island in the middle of Barefoot Bay, and you'll discover an oasis of swinging hammocks, lurking (concrete) crocodiles and rambunctious children enjoying a hidden playground.

Caribbean Cay also includes a battlement and cannons, for defending Old Port Royale from pirates. Piracy may not be as rampant in the Caribbean today as it once was, but recently pirates have invaded one of the villages of Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort in a big way.

The Trinidad South village at the resort had historically been the least popular among Guests, due to its distance from Centertown at Old Port Royale (still only about a 10 minute walk). In 2009, the rooms at Trinidad South were redone in the spirit of Pirates of the Caribbean, making them now among the most requested at the property.

Inside, a pirate adventure awaits. The beds in the room are built in the shape of pirate galleons, complete with bow, wheel, functioning lanterns and cannon ports along the sides, and the custom bedspreads give the impression each ship is laden with golden treasures.

On the wall is concept art developed for the 2006 enhancements on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Here, it's the scene of Jack Sparrow hiding out at the dress shop as the town's mayor is being grilled on the captain's whereabouts.

Furnishings throughout the room are unique and help create an environment of storytelling fun. End tables are barrels, the television sits on crates labeled for the East India Trading Co. and even the carpet is custom-designed to appear as wooden planks on the deck of a ship.

The pirate details don't stop there. Pull back the skull-and-crossbones drapes over the bathroom, and you'll find a shower curtain that pays homage to some of the legendary ships from pirates lore. There's the HMS Dauntless and Interceptor, ships of the Royal Navy which were, at one time or another, commandeered by Captain Jack Sparrow. There's also Empress, Sao Feng's vessel from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and the Wicked Wench, the ship seen in the bombardment scene on the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

Just when you think you've made it safely past these formidable craft, you come face to face with this ghostly image of the Flying Dutchman, the ship captained by none other than Davy Jones.

The pirate enhancements to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort make for a really fun experience. In fact, my boys never really wanted to leave the room!

The Awesome '80s and '90s!

The giant "80" pictured here does not refer to the trio of octogenarians who left their scooters parked outside the food court. No, it means it's time for us to take a trip back to the "totally awesome" 1980s at Disney's Pop Century Resort!

Bridging the gap between the '70s and '80s are the Potato Heads, Mr. and Mrs. Mr. Potato Head toys actually date back to the late-1940s, but it wasn't until 1975 that Hasbro introduced the familiar large, plastic potato shape which we all remember today.

The graphic traditions established throughout the rest of Pop Century continue in the '80s cluster with figures engaged in Break Dancing and Moonwalking and words and phrases like "Yuppie," "Preppy," "Radical" and "Fer Shure." The balconies here are turned into a giant game of Pac-Man, complete with the ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky & Clyde), Pac-dots and power pellets, while the stairwells are shrouded in giant Rubik's Cubes.

While I certainly remember the '80s, I could never figure out the Rubik's Cube, and (sadly) Pac-Man was the last video game I was really able to play well. There are lots of other pop culture icons in the '80s, though, that definitely resonate, like Roger Rabbit. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a co-production between Disney and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, was released in 1988 and became a monster-size hit. I remember seeing the movie at least three times in the theater (movies took much longer to come to video back then), and for a time, Roger had a widespread presence at the Walt Disney World Resort. He appeared in shows and parades and was the biggest star of the new Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park.

Another icon of the '80s on display is the Sony Walkman, the first portable music player, introduced in Japan in 1979 before being brought to the states a year later. The Walkman had a built-in radio and cassette tape player, along with stereo headphones, and became a huge part of the exercise craze during the decade. Today, those old Walkman devices just look plain huge, compared to the digital music players we have now.

At Pop Century, the '80s and '90s buildings are actually part of one cluster, with the 1990s occupying just one building. When the resort opened in 2003, it was perhaps harder to feel nostalgic about such a recent decade, so relatively little space was devoted to it. From our more-distant perspective in 2011, though, it's easier to find the charm in The Macarena and The Running Man or expressions like "Phat," "Keepin' It Real" and "Whazzup?!" The balconies are adorned with Rollerblades (still in use today) and compact discs (quickly vanishing in the digital age).

The pool at the center of the '80s/'90s cluster is known as the Computer Pool. It has a soft, keyboard-inspired deck and a waterway in the shape of an '80s-era computer screen. Nearby, an engineering building is disguised as a stack of floppy disks (modeled on the 3 1/2 inch diskettes common in the late-'80s and early-'90s), and the laundry room is made to look like the computer's external disk drive, complete with vents on the side and screws holding on the front panel.

Computers get more modern in the form of a giant laptop (with a pair of "hidden" Mickey keys), serving as the primary icon of the 1990s, a time when personal computing, e-mail and the Internet became integral parts of our lives. The images on the screen include everything from Mickey wallpaper and '90s-era All-Four-Parks desktop icons to the old Disney.com and a story on ABC News about the opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom in 1998. Look closely, you'll even see a banner ad for Disney Channel, inviting you to "Subscribe Today!" Remember when Disney Channel was actually a pay channel, like HBO or Showtime?

The stairwells here in the '90s are enclosed in gigantic cellular phones, the kind we had before flip phones or iPhones. They probably weren't much smaller than the ones seen here (okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration). Now, if the Disney references on the laptop screen were too obvious for you, here's one that's much more subtle. Take a look at the phone number depicted on the screen. If you call it, you'll be connected to... Disney's Pop Century Resort!